Intracellular recordings were obtained from single visual cells of the scallop, Pecten irradians. Two types of units are found. One type gives a graded, depolarizing response to light and the other a graded, hyperpolarizing response. The depolarizing cells are 2–3 log units more sensitive to light and have a longer latency than the hyperpolarizing type. At high light intensities the depolarizing cells are inactivated while the hyperpolarizing cells maintain their responses. When action potentials are seen they occur during illumination in depolarizing cells ("on" response) and after illumination in hyperpolarizing cells ("off" response). The evidence suggests that the depolarizing responses are from the microvilli-brearing proximal cells, and the hyperpolarizing responses from the ciliary-type distal cells of the retina, and that both responses are directly produced by light.
Article|
September 01 1970
Photoreceptor Potentials of Opposite Polarity in the Eye of the Scallop, Pecten irradians
John S. McReynolds,
John S. McReynolds
From the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, Division of Special Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C. 20032, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
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A. L. F. Gorman
A. L. F. Gorman
From the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, Division of Special Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C. 20032, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
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John S. McReynolds
From the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, Division of Special Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C. 20032, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
A. L. F. Gorman
From the Laboratory of Neurophysiology, National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20014, the Laboratory of Neuropharmacology, Division of Special Mental Health Research, National Institute of Mental Health, St. Elizabeths Hospital, Washington, D. C. 20032, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts 02543
Received:
March 09 1970
Online ISSN: 1540-7748
Print ISSN: 0022-1295
Copyright © 1970 by The Rockefeller University Press
1970
J Gen Physiol (1970) 56 (3): 376–391.
Article history
Received:
March 09 1970
Citation
John S. McReynolds, A. L. F. Gorman; Photoreceptor Potentials of Opposite Polarity in the Eye of the Scallop, Pecten irradians . J Gen Physiol 1 September 1970; 56 (3): 376–391. doi: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.56.3.376
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